The invention relates in general to grenades and in particular to packaging for grenades.
The known packaging system for grenades, in particular smoke grenades, comprises 16 spiral-bound fiber containers packed into a wire-bound wood ammunition crate. Each of the 16 spiral-bound fiber containers contains a single grenade. Several of the wood ammunition crates are stacked on a pallet and secured thereto. To access a grenade, a soldier has to unpalletize the wood crate, open the wood crate, remove the spiral-bound fiber containers, remove the grenades from the spiral bound containers and then load the grenades into individual metal cans or cargo pockets. The total weight of the packaging materials (spiral-bound fiber containers and wood ammunition crate) is about 35 pounds. The known packaging system is heavy and does not meet all performance requirements.
The wood crate does not have any carrying handles or a lid that can be easily opened and shut. The crate is opened by removing some of the wood slats that form the crate. Removing the wood slats often damages them. To close the crate, the wood slats, if still intact, must be fastened to the rest of the crate with nails or similar fasteners. After removal from the pallet, the crate is not easily transportable because it has no carrying handles. Often, the crate is opened and some but not all the grenades are removed, and then the crate is left open. Even if stored in a building, the open crates may allow undesired substances to contact the spiral bound containers.
In particular, the current spiral-bound containers absorb water vapor and cause rust at the metal sealing at the top of the grenade. This rusting can cause the grenades to become “duds.” The known packaging is very heavy, bulky and has two layers, i.e., the wood ammunition crate and the spiral-bound fiber containers. The two-layer packaging system is prohibitive in terms of weight and ease of handling.